In the battle for brand dominance, web-based companies look at TV
Online advertising has been the focus of much attention among retailers over the past several months as the providers of search marketing services have touted its cost accountability as an advertising medium, and as retailers using it have achieved results. But as the online marketplace continues to mature, more web-only companies are looking beyond online advertising’s direct call to action and are seeking to build brand in a big way. And they’re looking to TV campaigns to do it. Among the online-only companies testing TV ad campaigns currently are Overstock.com and comparison site Shopping.com. Auction site eBay ran its first television ad more than a year ago.
As the battle for survival among now-established online companies gives way to the fight for brand dominance online, that battle could be too big to be won exclusively online, industry analysts say. “TV advertising is overpriced and has its limitations. It isn’t as accountable as other media,” says Peter Storck, managing partner at K-Town Group, a research and consulting firm for interactive marketers. “But it’s still the most important battleground; it’s still a way to reach mainstream consumers in the most emotionally powerful way. People well up at an AT&T commercial where a guy calls his Mom on Mother’s Day. That doesn’t happen when you see the ad on the Internet, while passing a billboard, or flipping through a newspaper or magazine.”
That emotional identification is part of why people connect with a brand and one reason web-based companies that can afford to are cautiously exploring TV. Appearing on commercial TV, an ad medium also used by big, long-established consumer brands, also can help lend credibility to newer web-based companies, retail consultants say. A key difference between the expensive and largely unsuccessful dot-com TV ad blitz of three years ago and the current environment is that web-based companies experimenting with TV advertising now already have a following, says Jupiter Research analyst Patti Freeman Evans.
“They are not trying to build their brand through a lot of big-ticket spot purchases, which is what a lot of pure-plays had tried to do,” says Evans. “They’ve already achieved a certain level, and now they are trying to establish themselves at another level. That’s why TV works for them now.”
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